9 planning student celebrate World Town Planning Day at Mr. Crombie's grade 4/5 class

On Friday, November 6th, nine U of T Geography and Planning students went to Mr. Crombie's grade 4/5 class at St. Richard Catholic School in Scarborough to do a World Town Planning Day educational activity with the kids.

The grade 4/5 students were introduced to planning as a profession, encouraged to think and learn about how their homes, communities and cities are built as well as to think about their "sense of place" relative to their
homes, schools and other important buildings. In turn the U of T Geography and Planning students had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with several rambunctious youth, figuring out the best way to communicate planning ideas in interesting and relevant ways.

Together, the groups carried out several exercises to convey key lessons about the importance of planning practise. They started with a land-use colouring activity so that the kids could gain a sense of how compatible and incompatible uses can be arranged effectively. This was followed by a reflective, writing based activity that asked student's questions about their neighbourhoods and communities which covered everything from "Are there any places in your neighbourhood that you don't feel safe?" to "What kinds of things would you like to see more of in your community?". Finally, everyone got out the constructions paper, pencils, glue and tape to create their very own model cities, which tended to chock-full of candy stores, video arcades and places to play.

A special thanks goes out to Mr. Crombie and St. Richard Catholic School, the Department of Geography and Planning at U of T and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute for their support in this endeavor.

By Anna Wong

Where are the planners? 

Scattered throughout the room are Hugo Bonilla,

Mia Baumeister, Jesse Ajayi, Nicholas Gallant, Valerie Bryson,

Mia Baumeister and Erin Gullikson look proudly on to their students’ presentation